Kerala ASHA workers make emotional statement, cut hair in protest against 'government apathy'

ASHA workers in Kerala protest government indifference by cutting hair, shaving heads, and holding hunger strikes for demands.

Dozens of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) intensified their protest outside the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday (March 31, 2025), cutting their hair and some shaving their heads in an emotional gesture of defiance against the Kerala government's alleged indifference to their demands.

The protest escalated into its 50th day on Monday, with demonstrators intensifying their agitation outside the administrative hub, marking a new phase in their prolonged campaign.

Emotional scenes unfolded when several ASHA workers from across the districts converged at the protest venue in the morning and cut their hair en masse, raising slogans against the government.

In a display of desperation, one protester was overcome with emotion, breaking down in tears before taking the extreme step of shaving her head completely.

"It's our lives that are being cut. This is our protest against the ministers who turn a blind eye to our pain and problems. How are we supposed to survive on a meagre ₹232 a day?" the woman said, weeping and clutching the severed hair strands in her hand.

If the government refused to meet their demands, all the protesters would die here itself, she said.

"We have been staging our protest, battling scorching heat and rain, for the last 50 days. The government has not bothered to care for us," she alleged.